This past weekend saw a particularly massive storm system impact the mountains between Lake Tekapo and Christchurch with Mt Hutt, Roundhill, and Mt Dobson seeing big-time lake effect snowfall. Of those three ski areas, only Mt Hutt got their ski area open over the weekend after road crews handled snow drifts, some of which measured over 26 FEET DEEP!

On Sunday, Roundhill Ski Area remained closed after 50″ of snow fell at the resort base. Resort officials are claiming they’ve encountered wind drifts that are measuring over 120″ deep.

“We’ve had around 130cm snow with some massive (up to 3m) wind drifts in places.” – Roundhill Ski Area

Mt Dobson also got in on the action with a reported 60″ of new snow. That snow, along with most other areas saw severe wind effect. Mt Dobson was closed on Sunday but resort officials are hoping to open on Monday, avalanche danger permitting.